This article is part of an ongoing series by Dick Wilson, titled “Awards Night.” View the rest of the series HERE.

My last article offered ideas on how to streamline your awards night by carefully scrutinizing your award categories and qualification criteria. Now it’s time to move on to the presentation itself. Let’s begin with a few “before” considerations—what needs to happen in the weeks and days leading up to your big event.

And the first item on that list should be the size and shape of your stage.

What’s the Ideal Size and Shape for Your Stage?

I’ve discovered a two-level stage works best for awards nights, and for that matter, direct sales events in general.  More on that in a moment, but first, let’s consider what your basic stage area might look like.

Most stages are assembled piece by piece, using adjustable height risers. Take advantage of that flexibility by having a lower level downstage (closer to the audience) area, and a slightly higher upstage (closer to the back) area. Here are basic sketches that show you what I mean. Assume you’ll have standard 6’ x 8’ hotel risers (Note: height increments may vary).

Front View:

Downward View:

This basic design offers a number of benefits:

1. By having two levels, you can now “stack” honorees at two levels. The people in front aren’t blocking the people behind them. This makes for a cleaner look, better visibility for the audience, and even more important, better stage photos. You can easily get 2 rows of 15 (or more) people comfortably arranged on a 40’ wide stage.
2. If it’s a smaller recognition, you can use the lower level as your “greet & hug” level, and then place your honorees on the higher level for photos.
3. Or you can do the opposite—stage people on the lower level, and use the upper level to feed gifts & trophies to those being recognized. This eliminates stage traffic problems by keeping those bringing out trophies separate from those receiving them.

 

The Pipe & Drape Game

Also, by having your upper-level stage deeper than your lower level, you have room for pipe and draping or other scenic elements that enhance your stage look and let you create areas for entrances. Additionally, the space directly behind the onstage pipe & drape can serve as a storage/staging area for gifts and awards. Your basic look would be something like this:

Front View:

Downward View:

The area immediately behind the stage should be the home of your “cyc,” short for cyclorama. This is basically a big white piece of fabric that takes light and creates a pleasing backdrop.

Screen Placement

Without getting into too much detail, I suggest having two side screens (not shown in these drawings) for showing photos or live video of what’s happening on stage. Best of all is to have 3 screens—two on the side and one above the middle of the stage.  The side screens can show the live video (“IMAG,” short for “image magnification”) while the middle screen shows a graphic that identifies the recognition. This makes for great photographs, since viewers will be instantly able to see not only who made it to stage, but which recognition(s) they were in.

There’s still much more to discuss—scripting, music, photography and on-stage procedures, to name just a few. We’ll get to those in my next blog post! Be sure to keep up with the entire Awards Night series here.

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About Dick Wilson

Dick’s handy combination of both left and right brain abilities enables him to offer an eclectic menu of creative, production and organizational talents. As Marketing Director for Dorling Kindersley Family Learning, and before that, Director of Presentations for Tupperware, Dick has over 20 years experience managing budgets, projects and people, while implementing corporate objectives.

Because Dick’s an accomplished print writer, audio/video copywriter, promotional writer, script & speech writer, director/producer of conventions & events, he can craft an effective message in almost any medium. He understands how to motivate, inform and entertain a direct sales audience.

Learn more about Dick on his bio page, and contact us at info@strategicchoicepartners.com if you’d like to discuss how Dick and SCP can help your company.